wardenred's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Life is a summer storm of insecure thoughts. There’s an umbrella of precautions to prevent insecurity, but it doesn’t always keep the rain out of your face.
This was a really quick read for me—much quicker than I anticipated! In many ways, I would call this a rather typical YA contemporary book, with all the doubts, trials, and confusion you'd expect from a bunch of teenagers trying to figure themselves out the summer before their senior year. But the characters are incredibly compelling, the prose is warm and engrossing, and there's so much impact on found family. It was great to see a cast of character that was so diverse, so supportive of each other, and also, to see the adults in the kids' lives trying their best, like the coach and Bastian's Mom. Even though the book also deals with the ever-complicated issues of self-esteem, coming out, body issues, and more, it is ultimately super focused on acceptance and really, really heartwarming. A perfect read for a wintry day, all in all.
Oh, and also: childhood friends to enemies to lovers is probably my top favorite romance dynamic, and it was done so well here. Bastian and Emir's journey was believable and fulfilling and put a smile on my face more than once. It was messy at times, too, but aren't teenagers always?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia and Bullying
Minor: Islamophobia and Homophobia
tsar's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
“The future is only grim because people see it that way. It's unpredictable. Life is a summer storm of insecure thoughts. There's an umbrella of precautions to prevent insecurity, but it doesn't always keep the rain out of your face.”
If there is a moment where I feel like I have witnessed a glimpse of a sports anime story in a novel, let alone the western version of it, I would like to nominate Running with Lions as the strongest contender that checks all the marks.
Introduced to the readers is Sebastian Hughes, the star goalie of his high school's team who is contended to be the next captain and a bright future as a senior year. He has a solid brotherhood and the comfortability to express his sexuality as a high school athlete due to the immense support from his teammates and coach. The seemingly lively and peaceful life of Bastian, accompanied by the excitement to join the training camp with the team, is abruptly interrupted by the appearance of his estranged best friend Emir Shah who has become the new teammate that is noticeably shunned by many.
As I've mentioned before, Running with Lions fits all the tropes found in a typical sports anime story: the training camp arc where each member is determined to improve their skills to contribute to their teams, the resurgence of feelings that include sentimental fear and romantic attraction as they bond further with their teammates and others who might join the camp, and the trope of best friends to strangers to lovers that looks intimate yet frustrating as they have too many histories surrounding them.
For that implementation to work, Winters transposes the narrative into a character-driven tale where he explores the development of the characters, particularly Bastian and Emir: he illustrates Bastian's quite severe insecurity where he is often unable to see the worth of himself as a soccer player, almost obsessively downplaying his skills as subpar complementary compare to his amazing teammates. Adding with the fact that he portrays himself as someone who lives a double life—the Bastian who is open as a bisexual high school athlete in the school hall and on the field, and the Bastian who keeps himself in the closet as soon as he comes back to his family, which spikes up his anxiety to the point where he starts to lose the team of his happiness.
On the other hand, Winters examines the triple minority labels that Emir carries inside him. Being a brown character whose family's religious point of view is Islam is detrimental enough to cater to the cynical jeers from his peers, and extending to the fact that he identifies as a queer person puts a final nail in the coffin to his existence. As a result, the aloof and almost cold attitude that he portrays towards other people to the point where he comes off to be difficult is a justified reaction built from deliberately ignoring the years of xenophobic mindset hurled towards him.
While the supporting characters are given the spotlight for themselves in the book, their development is less significant and well-developed than the two main characters. Most of the time, their roles are only to be observers of the situation with a comment or two thrown to Bastian and Emir as some offshoot wise moments and retreat back to the background. I could only remember their coach and his tenacity to create a safe space for his team to be open with their identity despite the bigoted protests coming to him. Otherwise, I don't remember much about the rest of the characters there.
Complimenting the character-driven story is the atmosphere and thrill of the game itself. At this point, Winters seems to project himself more to create a nostalgic relatability that readers could consume: the vast, intimate knowledge of small towns embedded in this story as Winters also grew up in one. The acute exploration of soccer games shows his massive love for soccer. An element that creates an atmospheric warm tone to the story, balancing the tale that focuses on teenagers coming-of-age and coming to terms with their own dreams.
Sweet without looking sickening, Winters finishes the book on a high note, instilling the promise that they would all heal and reach their future without fear in their lives. As we are currently facing such a dire condition for quite a long period, that kind of positivity in fiction might be one that we need.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Islamophobia, Homophobia, Body shaming, and Alcohol
whatifitsbooks's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Islamophobia, Fatphobia, and Body shaming
blupies's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I think this book is kind of average. I’d recommend it if you’re looking for uplifting themes about coming of age and some fun sports goofiness but I do have some criticisms.
There were so many characters (I assume to make it seem like there’s actually a full team) but the issue with having so many characters is that I couldn’t keep track of who is who. A lot of them could have been merged into one character or been cut completely. The ones that I could keep track of had one or two ‘signature’ traits and that’s it.
The way the only female character is portrayed is very ‘not like other girls’ and the way she is treat by the guys reeks of misogyny, especially considering her signature trait is chasing after Mason, who treats her like shit throughout the entire book and it’s kind of just played off as a “Oh he’s mean because he likes you” thing at the end (YIKES!). He’s mean to everyone and it’s kind of just “Oh that’s just how Mason is, he’s just an asshole to everyone” as if that’s not a huge red flag. I mean the guy sees his ex girlfriend and Sebastian talking and being happy after their breakup and almost implodes on the spot.
The way mental health is treat in this book seems very shallow to me, as if it’s thrown in as an afterthought. Some ambiguity can be good but I don’t think it’s beneficial in this book. The hints are subtle and it ultimately builds up to Emir going “Don’t worry, everyone is imperfect” and suddenly Sebastian’s body image issues are cured because they’re never mentioned again after that.
We get a pretty sweet scene between Coach Patrick and Sebastian at the end (Why were there three coaches, very easily could have all been made into one character.) Overall I like it but we get some really random backstory that, had it been sprinkled in throughout the whole book, would have been fine but because it’s all half explained in a matter of pages I was left wondering if I’d missed something and questioning what had actually happened to Xander. It was also told as if whatever happened happened a few years ago, before Sebastian was on the team or before Coach Patrick was their coach but it seems like Xander is a similar age to Sebastian, if not younger. I don’t know it just felt weird and info dumpy
There were so many characters (I assume to make it seem like there’s actually a full team) but the issue with having so many characters is that I couldn’t keep track of who is who. A lot of them could have been merged into one character or been cut completely. The ones that I could keep track of had one or two ‘signature’ traits and that’s it.
The way the only female character is portrayed is very ‘not like other girls’ and the way she is treat by the guys reeks of misogyny, especially considering her signature trait is chasing after Mason, who treats her like shit throughout the entire book and it’s kind of just played off as a “Oh he’s mean because he likes you” thing at the end (YIKES!). He’s mean to everyone and it’s kind of just “Oh that’s just how Mason is, he’s just an asshole to everyone” as if that’s not a huge red flag. I mean the guy sees his ex girlfriend and Sebastian talking and being happy after their breakup and almost implodes on the spot.
The way mental health is treat in this book seems very shallow to me, as if it’s thrown in as an afterthought. Some ambiguity can be good but I don’t think it’s beneficial in this book. The hints are subtle and it ultimately builds up to Emir going “Don’t worry, everyone is imperfect” and suddenly Sebastian’s body image issues are cured because they’re never mentioned again after that.
We get a pretty sweet scene between Coach Patrick and Sebastian at the end (Why were there three coaches, very easily could have all been made into one character.) Overall I like it but we get some really random backstory that, had it been sprinkled in throughout the whole book, would have been fine but because it’s all half explained in a matter of pages I was left wondering if I’d missed something and questioning what had actually happened to Xander. It was also told as if whatever happened happened a few years ago, before Sebastian was on the team or before Coach Patrick was their coach but it seems like Xander is a similar age to Sebastian, if not younger. I don’t know it just felt weird and info dumpy
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying and Homophobia
Moderate: Islamophobia and Sexual content
Minor: Mental illness, Cursing, and Racism
fa1ryts's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dysphoria, Homophobia, and Eating disorder
phoebebebbebe's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, and Homophobia
Moderate: Islamophobia and Fatphobia
tahsintries's review against another edition
3.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Islamophobia, Racism, Abandonment, and Homophobia
piperclover's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This is was a joy to read! I'm so happy we got to see the actual relationship instead of just the love confession! So much fun and so cool to see a Muslim gay mc since I've never seen one before
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Sexism
freckled_frog's review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This book was - eh - alright.
It was a great book idea - with gay and bi rep, a Muslim Pakistani-British love interest, poc characters, and a few convos abt male body image - but overall, the writing reminds me of bad fanfic.
It was very character-driven, which was weird cuz the character development really sucked. The deep realizations were not new to the characters and were super basic.
Many side characters fit into stereotypes like poetic gay, mean asshole friend, meaner bully, rude teammates, The Hispanic Dude (literally 99% of his lines are just cursing in Spanish) - and the only girl is a pick-me. Please make the characters well-rounded if you were to write a book detailing the intricacies of a soccer team's inner relationships. It makes for a crappy story otherwise.
Many side characters fit into stereotypes like poetic gay, mean asshole friend, meaner bully, rude teammates, The Hispanic Dude (literally 99% of his lines are just cursing in Spanish) - and the only girl is a pick-me. Please make the characters well-rounded if you were to write a book detailing the intricacies of a soccer team's inner relationships. It makes for a crappy story otherwise.
A lot of the writing is disjointed (we never hear why he calls his mom by her first name, for one teeny tiny example - no spoilers). Nothing is truly explained - there's an argument at the end between two teams, and it's never explained why the fuck that happened, and nothing is impacted by that happening; it's just there. So I'll be honest, the humor feels like it’s slapped in and just isn’t funny. (~"someone should make a hashtag about how math sucks"~ ??)
The romance seems very sex-appeal-based, and the chemistry just doesn't seem to be there. Instead of being made to feel like they are definitely in love, we are just told that they are. I wasn’t rooting for them, really. I guess it felt more like a hook-up than a potential long-term relationship. I also think it's weird to have the MC focus on the fact that the love interest was so small and cute when he’s a grown dude. Felt a bit fetish-y to me, idk.
My best advice is if you want an amazing gay-sports book, read The Foxhole Court. (honestly this feels like a fanfic based off of it tbh, you won't miss anything) <3
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Islamophobia, Sexism, Misogyny, Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Vomit
Minor: Religious bigotry and Panic attacks/disorders
tieflingreads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying and Homophobia
Moderate: Body shaming
Minor: Islamophobia and Acephobia/Arophobia